This five hundred year old book, part of a five volume set published in 1583, was purloined from the Archbishop Marsh's library in Dublin Ireland one hundred years ago.

It was a translation of the Greek philosopher Galen, done by Theodore Gulston and it had the Gulston's annotations written in it for a future edition. Gulston's widow donated the set to Merton College, Oxford, in 1635.

Later, it was given to Narcissus Marsh, also an Oxford man, who then sailed with it across the Irish Sea to become provost of Trinity College in Dublin.  There it stayed until about 100 years ago, when this volume of the set was noticed to be missing.

Now, an anonymous local lawyer has returned it to the library.  It appears he purchased it at a local Dublin junk shop for 90 euros, became suspicious of it's provenance, and took it to the library himself.  There, the librarians recognized it for what it was.  It was still in excellent condition. 

Amazing indeed.

Incredibly, even a loose page with notes made by Gulstan himself was still safely inside the book.